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T O P I C R E V I E W

music_space

I just ran in this photo-essay from Air&Space magazine, which presents thirteen "fun pictures", or parodied posters, with comments from Sean Collins, the graphics technical lead at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Shuttle and space station crews customarily take a series of photographs near the end of their pre-mission training, all shot on the same day. There's a group photo, individual photos, family shots, and pictures taken with co-workers, foreign aides, and the crew secretary. But the last 15 minutes of the photo shoot are set aside for what has come to be known as a "fun photo." Over time, the fun photo has transformed into a parody, due to the efforts of one man, Sean Collins, the graphics technical lead at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Hart Sastrowardoyo

I always thought it would be neat to see a book with those alternate photos. The first page of a shuttle mission would be the commonly-seen photo, followed by the alternate take (such as the crew in the LES, if the commonly-seen pic is in their BFS or polo shirts, or their suits and ties or military uniforms), as well as the gag photo (the 32R crew in Santa suits, or the 111 crew in sombreros, for example.)

The only hard part would be tracking down the alternate takes. Perhaps such a book could also include an interview with one or more of the astronauts on that particular flight on what they remember about the alternate takes.

englau

I love the idea of the book. That would certainly be a fun coffee table book to have in ones home!

I tried to round up as many of the alternate photos in one place as possible tonight. I put them on Facebook only because uploading them on that site took the least amount of time.